Satisfaction with Postnatal care Services Among Women Delivering in EmbuHospital, Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

Patient satisfaction has been increasingly recognized as an important outcome for the health care delivery
system and is increasingly studied in developing countries. Many women report lower levels of
satisfaction with care and support they receive during the postnatal period than any other phase of their
maternity care. The objectives of the study were; determining the level of women's satisfaction with
postnatal care, determining the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on satisfaction with
postnatal care. Descriptive cross-sectional research design was used. The study population was
postpartum women aged 15-49 years who had delivered in Embu hospital. The study employed
systematic random sampling method to come up with a sample size of 205 respondents. A structured client
exit questionnaire, focused group discussions and key informant interviews were used to collect data.
Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and presented in percentages, frequencies and cross
tabulations. The study findings revealed that majority of the women 54.6% were satisfied with postnatal
care services provided. Findings from this study also showed that socio-demographic variables like age,
marital status, education level, occupation and monthly income did not have a significant relationship
with women's satisfaction with postnatal care. The study concluded that there is still a percentage of
women 45.4% who were still dissatisfied with the postnatal care services provided. The study
recommended that the county government together with the hospital administration should help in
installation of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) to help
seek feedback from customers hence improve the satisfaction level of clients. The study also
recommended that the same study should be done in other hospitals within the Sub Counties and in the rest
of 47 Counties to enable generalization of results.